The Sparrow and the Thieves
by UndercoverGenius
Summary: Taliyah is just trying to get back home to Shurima. Twisted Fate and Malcolm Graves are just trying to make a (dis)honest living when they encounter the lost Shuriman girl. They decide to accompany her on her journey to Shurima. (Eventual Graves X TF. Eventual Yasuo x Taliyah)
_Taliyah is surfing along the sands of Shurima. The sands move just like the real waves of the ocean. She can see a giant golden disc begin to peak over the horizon. The Shuriman Empire Disc. Her heart sinks in disbelief at the sight. Taliyah then feels the rock beneath her feet slide out from under her. She falls into the sand and sinks beneath it. She screams out but her mouth just fills with the sand and she chokes on it._

Taliyah's eyes fling open and are met with darkness. Her heart is racing and she's drenched with sweat. She takes deep breaths trying to calm herself as she tries to remember where she is. She stretches a hand out and feels the wooden planks in front of her. Some light is filtering in through the cracks. She can feel the entire crate rocking beneath her and she sighs remembering at last where she was.

She was stowing away on an Ionian trade ship bound for Freljord. She relaxes a bit, the panic from her nightmare beginning to subside.

She hears the shouting of the sailors as their voices drew closer to her crate.

"The boss wants all these crates unloaded before noon so hop to it." One of the sailors barks an order to presumably another sailor. She feels the crate she's in begin to be lifted off the ground. She tries to hold herself steady hoping to not make too much noise.

When she feels the crate hit steady ground again she waits for a moment. She attempts to lightly push the top open, but when it doesn't budge she kicks it open with a large crack as the boards break. She hops out into the world. She was on the docks just off the boat and the Ionian sailors were all staring at her with mouths agape.

"Sorry about the crate!" She shouts and runs off.

"After that stowaway!" One of the men shout. She sighs, of course it wouldn't be that easy.

She runs into the streets gliding in between people gracefully while the sailors chasing her shoved the citizens out of their way. She turns down an alleyway between two large building and is met with a dead end. She turns and three of the sailors were standing there. They were large and buff, one of them was pointing a pistol at her.

"You're that wanted Shuriman girl!" One says in realization. "The one seen with that exile Yasuo. There's a bounty on your head. We're taking you back to Ionia."

"A bounty? For what?" Taliyah asked. Besides stowing away she hadn't broken any laws while in Shurima.

"They want information on Yasuo, and you got it of course." The sailor explained.

Taliyah smirks. "Well you'll never get it!" She shifts into her fighting stance. She takes a deep breath and focuses on the earth beneath the sailors. The ground beneath them begins to quiver, but before they can react she flings them backward out of the alley. She swiftly runs out of the alleyway and disappears into the crowd of people before they could get back up.

When she feels like she lost the men she starts to take in the sights of the city. Something didn't seem right. First of all she didn't think a city this size would be in one of Freljord's port towns. She assumed the only large city would be the capitol. Secondly, nothing really seemed like Freljord. The buildings were made of metal and often had huge decorative gears on them. The local attire also seemed to mirror that gear aesthetic as well where they all seemed to have gears glued to their outfits. Nothing seemed right. She walked up to a shopkeeper who appeared to be selling, surprise surprise, gears.

"Hello little lady what can I do for ya?" The woman asks cheerily.

"I'm actually a little lost. Can you tell me where I am?"

The lady laughs. "You're on 56th street."

"No I mean what city am I in?"

The woman looks at her a bit stunned. "You're in Piltover."

Taliyah feels her heart sink. "Piltover. Yes. Thank you…" She walks away a bit saddened. She must have gotten on the wrong boat, or they were making a pit stop in Piltover. Either way this wasn't where she needed to be. She takes out her coin purse and stares at the few copper coins she has as her stomach growls. She sighs and decides to see if she could find a cheap place to eat.

Unfortunately for Taliyah the cheaper restaurants are all back by the docks. She peeks into a tavern, seeing it relatively empty, decides it safe to eat at. She sits on a stool a couple seats down from two rugged looking men who were the only other patrons. They seemed to be bickering amongst themselves.

The bartender approaches her. "You're a bit young to be at a bar on your own miss."

Taliyah puffs up her chest indignantly. "I'm eighteen! I'm not looking for a drink though. What can I get for this amount of money." She places her 5 copper coins down on the bar.

The bartender scoffs. "Glass of milk."

Taliyah's stomach growls again and her face falls. "I figured as much."

She began to gather up the coins to leave when one of the patrons spoke up. His face was mostly obscured by the large hat he wore.

"Get the a girl a hot meal and put it on my tab." The man says. Taliyah was shocked at the kindness from the stranger.

"Thank you sir!" She says excitedly as the bartender walks off. "I'm afraid I won't be able to repay your kindness."

The man beside him was bearded and much bulkier than the first. He takes a few puffs of a cigar before looking at the first man. "Fate we don't got money to burn through here." He says quietly, but Taliyah could still hear him.

"We have plenty of money after last night, and plenty more for your new gun stop worrying Malcolm." The tall man with the hat replies.

Taliyah pretends like she wasn't eavesdropping as a piping hot plate of food is brought out to her. She begins to dig in, the food not being particularly good but she couldn't care less she was starving.

"Never seen a girl eat that fast before." The man with the hat, Fate if she recalled, says with a chuckle. She can see his face a bit better now that he's turned to talk to her. He had a scruffy beard and a narrow face and bright green eyes. His hair was long, but unlike her master Yasuo's wild long hair his was sleek and tame.

She swallows the mouthful and blushes. "I haven't eaten in 4 days my apologies for my lack of manners." Both the men laugh lightly at her reaction and causes her to blush deeper. "What's so funny now?" She asks with a pout.

"Sorry little lady, most people where we're from aint as polite as you. Was just funny to hear." The bulkier man says still chuckling. "From the looks of it you aren't from around here either. What brings ya to Piltover?"

Taliyah sighs. "Admittedly I seem to be lost. My boat was supposed to take me to Freljord yet here I am in Piltover." The men began chuckling again. "Is everything I say amusing?" She says crossing her arms with a huff.

"You're a bit of a walking mess aren't ya? Why do you want to go to Freljord anyway?" Fate asks.

Before Taliyah could answer there was a large commotion behind them. Taliyah peeks over her shoulder and sees a rowdy bunch entering the tavern. Her heart stops as she recognizes them as the Ionian sailors from earlier.

"Is there a back door?" She whispers to the two men.

The bigger man, Malcom if Taliyah recalls, raises an eyebrow at her. "Why?"

"I need to make an exit without being seen." Taliyah says panic beginning to set in as the men approach the bar. There are a lot more than the three from earlier, maybe about 10, she really didn't think she'd be able to fight and outrun all of them,

"Hey! Is that the stowaway Shuriman girl?"

Taliyah sighs again. "Too late." She stands up and the men draw their weapons. "I was really enjoying the meal too."

"Hey!" The bartender shouts. "No fighting in my bar-" One of the Sailors throws a knife and it grazes the bartender's cheek. He jumps out of his skin a bit.

"Don't get in our way. The girl is coming with us." The man who threw the knife threatens.

"I'll call the police. You'll never do business in this city again." The bartender threatens.

"We won't have to with the bounty on her head." The men begin approaching her and Taliyah clutches some rocks she had been holding onto. She only had 4 she'd have to make them count. She shifts into a fighting stance when Fate gets up from the bar and stands in between her and the sailors.

"Don't call the police. I'll handle these idiots." He says and Taliyah could see him smiling devilishly.

"Fate, we're outnumbered and I don't have a gun…" Malcolm says approaching him. "We're not supposed to be looking for trouble in this city."

"I never knew Malcolm Graves to be one to back down from a fight." Fate says teasingly and Graves groans, annoyed at his companion.

One of the men takes out a sword and charges at Fate. To Taliyah's surprise the man takes out a golden playing card and throws it at the man who freezes when it hits him. Graves punches the man while he's stunned. Twisted then throws three cards of varying colors at the sailors who all recoil when they make contact with them. Taliyah watches the man in awe at how he could be doing such a feat.

One of the sailors charge at Fate from the side and Taliyah quickly dispatches him with one of her rocks. It hit's him square in the face and he's knocked out cold.

"Did you just throw a rock at him?" Graves asks with an amused tone.

"Your friend is throwing _cards_ at them and you're surprised that I'm using rocks?"

Graves chuckles. "You have a point." He knees a sailor in the stomach. There were still a good amount of Sailors still conscious and ready to fight. Taliyah only had 3 rocks left. If they weren't on a wooden floor she'd be able to acquire more earth to work with, but as long as they were inside it'd be difficult. She also wanted avoid as much damage to the bar as possible.

She throws another rock and it hits another sailor in the face, but he doesn't go down. Twisted throws a red card that explodes on impact and the man falls to the ground out cold. Graves takes down another man leaving four left. The sound of sirens approaching causes them all the stop. "Fate the cops are here. We gotta go. Can you do your thing?"

"Not with 2 people with me." He whispers to his companion. He then raises his voice as he addresses the Sailors. "The Piltover police are here. We'll be taking our leave. I suggest you do the same."

The sailors look at each other, grab their friends and shuffle as quickly out the door as they can. "You'll pay for this Shuriman girl!" One of them shouts.

"C'mon we gotta run." Graves says as he runs out the door too followed by Fate. Taliyah follows them as well.

"Why are you running from the police?" She asks as she trots alongside them down the road.

"We're not exactly too friendly with the local cops. The faster we get Graves his gun and outta this town the better." Fate explains before skidding to a halt. Taliyah bumps into his back with a thud. "Shit."

Standing in their way were two women. The pink haired one was tall and very buff, but the most interesting thing about her was she had giant metal gloves that were bigger than her body. The siren noise seemed to be coming from her gloves. The dark haired woman was small and petite and was carrying a sniper rifle. "I came to break up a bar fight and I find 2 Bilgewater outlaws instead! It's my lucky day!" The pink haired woman says with a wicked grin on her face.

"Vi you can turn the siren noise off now." The smaller woman says.

"Sorry cupcake." Vi turns it off.

"I knew us getting into that fight was a bad idea." Graves grumbles.

The petite woman clears her throat. "I am Sheriff Caitlyn of the Piltover Police Department. You're all under arrest. If you try to escape I will not hesitate to gun you down. Please come quietly."

"Fate use your magic to get outta here. I'll cover you." Graves says.

Fate scoffs. "With what weapon? Besides if I left you again you'd hunt me down and try to kill me." Graves swears under his breath. Suddenly the earth beneath them begins to tremble. "What's that?" He swiftly turns to Taliyah whose hands are held out as she concentrates.

"Fixing the mess I made." She states. Suddenly the concrete between them and the police erupts. Arches of stone form artistically and swiftly creating a gigantic wall that expands the length of the street. Taliyah grabs Fate and Grave's arms and drags them off in the opposite direction. "It won't last forever we need to go."

"She just put your card tricks to shame." Graves teases and Fate hits him in the arm.

They rest once they're in one of the back alleys. Taliyah is nervous about stopping even for a second but Fate assures her this alley was safe. It was where the black market arms dealers met and the police didn't know about it, for now at least.

"I don't believe we've formally introduced ourselves. My name is Twisted Fate and this is my partner Malcolm Graves." Fate says with a slight bow causing Graves to roll his eyes.

"I am Taliyah. I am in your debt for saving me from the Ionian sailors." She says bowing back.

"How'd you piss off the Ionians like that? It takes a lot to get on their bad side." Graves inquires.

Taliyah smiles meekly. "I stowed away on one of their ships. There is also a bounty on my head apparently because I am a student of a wanted man in Ionia. They believe I might know his whereabouts. What did you do to become so hated by Piltover?"

Graves and Fate smile at each other before Fate speaks up. "More like what haven't we done? We're outlaws from Bilgewater and we've stolen a lot of tech in our time here to sell to Zaun for a pretty penny. We're only here now to pick up a new gun for Graves but they're still not happy with us for the past."

"I'd probably still be unhappy as well if I had found out you had stolen from my homeland."

"Yeah well a man's gotta eat somehow. You never did say why you're heading to Freljord. You're a long way from home little Shuriman."

"Well that's why actually, I'm trying to get home. I can't go through Noxus though so I have to get to Freljord and take a boat from there. Looks like I'm either stowing away again or walking from here." Taliyah's heart sinks again at the thought of how much longer her journey is. She's practically broke with only a few copper coins to her name. Even if she did manage to get free boat rides all the way there she'd probably starve first.

Twisted Fate exchanges a look with Graves. Before Fate could open his mouth Graves cuts him off. "No way."

"We never have been there before Graves."

"We've already helped her a lot Fate c'mon let's get my gun and head back to Bilgewater and get back to what we do best."

"I don't see why we can't take our business on the road. New cities that don't know us, they'll never see my scams coming. Easier to rob too when there aren't wanted posters with your face on em." Fate explains causing Graves to groan.

"I hate it when you're right."

"I know you do."

Taliyah looks at them wide eyed. "You wish to travel with me?"

"You still owe me remember? Pay me back by accompanying us to Shurima."

"I feel like that's doing me a favor more than you."

"We don't know the desert well enough to navigate it, but you do. Guide us through the desert and we'll call it even." Fate holds his hand out. "Until then we'll travel to Freljord together."

Taliyah hesitates, not sure if she should trust this man. The first stranger she had trusted, the Noxians, had deceived her. But Yasuo had taught her not to fear taking chances just because of one mistake. She smiles and shakes his hand. "I'd be happy to accompany you two."

(A/N: Hey so I was super excited about Taliyah's release coming up sooo I started writing a fanfiction! I'll be updating this one a little less frequently than my other one, so if you're a fan of that one don't worry this won't be interfering with that fic. Just had the idea and wanted to get it out there! Anyways hope you enjoyed!)


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